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Speaker 1: The first free agent signing, and it's one of their own.

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Speaker 1: Welcome Bird Gang. On today's show, Danny Surrek joins me.

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Speaker 1: Free agency doesn't officially begin until next week, but teams

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Speaker 1: can resign their own free agents, and that's exactly what

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Speaker 1: the Cardinals did on Friday. Welcome back L. J. Collier.

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Speaker 1: It's Cardinals Cover two, Episode seven thirty five, and it

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Speaker 1: starts now.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Cardinals Cover two. Who to Baker?

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Speaker 1: What Heart? What rent?

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Speaker 2: This guy's unbelievable? Cardinals Cover two is presented by Hyundai,

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Speaker 2: proud partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Arizona Cardinals Podcast.

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Speaker 2: Visit Azycardinals dot Com slash podcast.

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Speaker 1: He's at the ten half of five. He's it again,

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Speaker 1: so more hurry magic.

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Speaker 2: Whow Here's Craig Griolud.

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Speaker 1: And here Danny thought she could go an entire week

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Speaker 1: without doing a show with me after a full week

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Speaker 1: in Indianapolis. You thought you had the week off?

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Speaker 3: Well, thank goodness, I don't, Craig.

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Speaker 4: Why is that Well because the Cardinals have made their

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Speaker 4: first move a free agency.

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Speaker 1: I thought it was just because you missed doing a

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Speaker 1: show with me.

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Speaker 4: Oh yeah, that too, that too, this yeah, the Cardinals.

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Speaker 4: Having a reason for us to have a cover.

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Speaker 3: Two is just bonus.

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Speaker 1: Oh, I see unscheduled, but I think we're going to

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Speaker 1: do these now that free agency is here. It begins

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Speaker 1: next Wednesday officially, but yes, the Cardinals can sign their

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Speaker 1: own free agency and that's exactly what they did on Friday,

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Speaker 1: bringing back LJ. Collier on a one year deal and Danny.

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Speaker 1: We've talked about the defensive line a lot this offseason

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Speaker 1: as far as kneeding bodies and whether that's returning players

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Speaker 1: or going outside. And Caller didn't play much last season.

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Speaker 1: In fact, he played less than one full game before

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Speaker 1: during his biceps injury that costs him the rest of

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Speaker 1: the season. But this is a name that I don't

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Speaker 1: think any Cardinal fan should be surprised that has brought

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Speaker 1: back because of one, he was signed for a reason.

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Speaker 1: In two, it was the off season, it was training camp,

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Speaker 1: it was preseason. But he did make an impression on

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Speaker 1: the coaching staff.

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Speaker 4: He really did. I thought that that was the bummer

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Speaker 4: of LJ. Collier, along with Carlos Watkins, as two defensive

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Speaker 4: linemen that looked good in training camp, looked good in preseason,

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Speaker 4: looked good in that first game in Washington and then

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Speaker 4: ended up suffering season ending injuries very early on into

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Speaker 4: the season.

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Speaker 3: It does say a lot.

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Speaker 4: You're right, the Cardinals brought Collier in a former first

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Speaker 4: round pick, to Seattle for a reason, and it seems

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Speaker 4: like they saw enough of him from off season workouts,

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Speaker 4: last year, training camp, and then going all the way

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Speaker 4: up to that game in Washington to want to bring

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Speaker 4: him back. We saw Collier throughout the facility rehabbing, We

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Speaker 4: saw him later in the year outside watching practice with

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Speaker 4: Watkins and still being involved. It's a good sign that

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Speaker 4: the Cardinals still feel good about Collier, and it also

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Speaker 4: makes sense because there's a lot of holes on the

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Speaker 4: defensive line. The Cardinals have a good amount of free agents,

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Speaker 4: and the defensive line specifically is an area that needs

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Speaker 4: to be beefed up, and I think having a healthy LJ.

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Speaker 4: Collier definitely does that. We just didn't get a chance

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Speaker 4: to see a full season of that, so I'm excited

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Speaker 4: about this move. We saw really good flashes from him,

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Speaker 4: so hopefully he can stay healthy throughout the whole year

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Speaker 4: and we're able to see kind of the resurgence of

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Speaker 4: what he was talking about when Collier talked to the

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Speaker 4: media for the first time coming to Arizona and having

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Speaker 4: the ability to kind of add a spark back to

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Speaker 4: his career and prove what he can really do, and

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Speaker 4: he was very excited about playing under head coach Jonathan

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Speaker 4: Gannon in defensive corner or Nick Rallis, And I'm excited

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Speaker 4: to see what he can do now that he's back,

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Speaker 4: at least for one year here in Arizona.

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Speaker 1: Fingers crossed he stays healthy. That's been an issue the

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Speaker 1: past three seasons, only nineteen games played. But it is

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Speaker 1: a position of need. It's not the only answer at

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Speaker 1: the defensive line. But now you look at who you

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Speaker 1: have under contract going into next season, there are six

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Speaker 1: defensive alignment with the addition of Collier. Dante Stills, who

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Speaker 1: ended the season on ir with a knee injury, but

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Speaker 1: he told us after the season that it was not serious,

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Speaker 1: so that's good news. You got Roy Lopez, Nakwan Jones,

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Speaker 1: Phil Hodkskins, and Ben Stilly. There are gonna be more

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Speaker 1: names added to that. Might we see Carlos Watkins come back.

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Speaker 1: Might we see Lucky fo two come back again. Not

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Speaker 1: big names, but players, at least the Cardinals are familiar with,

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Speaker 1: and then we'll see what happens once pre agency officially

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Speaker 1: begins and the Cardinals can go outside and maybe bring

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Speaker 1: in someone that wasn't an Arizona Cardinal last season.

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Speaker 3: It'll be interesting too.

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Speaker 4: Craig is, how does the injury of Jonathan Ledbetter affect

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Speaker 4: what the Cardinals are doing, who tore his acl late

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Speaker 4: in the year. If the Cardinals might not be expecting

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Speaker 4: Ledbetter to return early on, does that make it more

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Speaker 4: likely that the Cardinals want to bring back Carlos Watkins

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Speaker 4: or Lucky FO two.

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Speaker 3: I think both could be true.

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Speaker 4: I think that the Cardinals could sign FO two and

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Speaker 4: Walkins of liking what they saw. We saw good things

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Speaker 4: from LeKi Fotu, who really had a good year, maybe

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Speaker 4: one of his better years in Arizona when he had

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Speaker 4: the opportunity to have those consistent reps. Carlos Walkins similar

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Speaker 4: to Collier, who had really good flashes in the off

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Speaker 4: season and through early on in the season before having

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Speaker 4: a season any biceps injury. It wouldn't surprise me if

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Speaker 4: the Cardinals re sign those two and still look at

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Speaker 4: free agents. I mean, it seems as of late of

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Speaker 4: the reports of teams who might not be resigning some

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Speaker 4: of their defensive lineman. That's one of the positions where

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Speaker 4: there seems to be some intriguing names. It's different when

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Speaker 4: you're signing free agents, which the Cardinals can do starting

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Speaker 4: when March thirteenth from an outside team, because, as general

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Speaker 4: manager Manti Austinbord has said, it's a combination of player evaluation,

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Speaker 4: not just what they have done in their career. How

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Speaker 4: will they fit in with this scheme, with this coaching staff,

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Speaker 4: in this locker room. It's player evaluation and its player

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Speaker 4: valuation the market, which we're really not going to see

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Speaker 4: how that's going to start to shake out until March

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Speaker 4: thirteenth when free agents start to sign those new contracts.

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Speaker 4: But I do think that defensive lineman is one of

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Speaker 4: those positions where I would expect the Cardinals to continue

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Speaker 4: to re sign some of their own from those players

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Speaker 4: that they liked and what they have seen and still

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Speaker 4: looking outside and we know with.

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Speaker 1: This position, specifically along that front seven that Nick Rowlis

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Speaker 1: likes to rotate on the defensive line and went back

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Speaker 1: and looked at some of the snap counts. No D

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Speaker 1: lineman last season played fifty percent of the total snaps.

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Speaker 1: Stills was the highest at forty eight ledbetter at forty six,

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Speaker 1: So it does at least for me.

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Speaker 4: Danny.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there are some big names potentially out there, Chris

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Speaker 1: Jones if he doesn't go back to Kansas City, Christian Wilkins,

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Speaker 1: who does not appear to be headed back to the Dolphins.

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Speaker 1: But those are big names that carry a big price tag,

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Speaker 1: and if you're going to pay that, you would expect

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Speaker 1: to Seemi on the field for more than forty eight

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Speaker 1: percent of the defensive snats. But if that is not

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Speaker 1: what this defensive coaching staff likes to do with their

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Speaker 1: defensive line on their front seven, then it doesn't make

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Speaker 1: a lot of sense. Then it just might not make

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Speaker 1: a lot of sense either, because MANI I don't get

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Speaker 1: the feeling, at least through one offseason that he is

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Speaker 1: a big spender when it comes to free agency. In fact,

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Speaker 1: he told you during the Indianapolis scouting combine, you're gonna

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Speaker 1: supplement in free agency, You're not going to plug major holes.

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Speaker 1: And as you already mentioned, this Cardinals defense specifically has

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Speaker 1: a lot of holes.

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Speaker 4: On all three levels, right awsomebord it said, you really

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Speaker 4: do that through the draft is where the focus is

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Speaker 4: when it comes to building a team and culminating that

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Speaker 4: roster and how you want it to be.

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Speaker 3: That's a great point.

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Speaker 4: Craig is the rotation, and we know that's what Rowllis

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Speaker 4: wanted to do and intended to do. The d line

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Speaker 4: was just so riddled with injuries that became difficult and

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Speaker 4: at some point you're going to have to just keep

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Speaker 4: your best players out there and maybe have them play

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Speaker 4: more snaps than you would like to see. That makes

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Speaker 4: me wonder if, okay, if the Cardinals are bringing back Collier,

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Speaker 4: maybe they felt good enough what they had with a

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Speaker 4: healthy Lucky Foe to a healthy Carlos Watkins, and now

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Speaker 4: that they have a better idea out of Dante Still's

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Speaker 4: coming off a really good rookie year, maybe the Cardinals

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Speaker 4: feel strong enough to where they don't have to bring

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Speaker 4: one of those top tier free agent defensive tackles out here.

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Speaker 4: Maybe they can find somebody who's, you know, maybe more

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Speaker 4: of a tier two, tier three to kind of mesh

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Speaker 4: with the players that the Cardinals not only have but

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Speaker 4: might resign of their own and right, maybe that could

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Speaker 4: be enough to get the job done of what they're

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Speaker 4: looking for and the Cardinals can use that money that

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Speaker 4: you're not spending on one of those big free agent

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Speaker 4: defensive tackle names and use it in other positions that

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Speaker 4: are also of.

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Speaker 3: Great need, specifically on defense.

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Speaker 4: Right the Cardinals are going to need help, you would

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Speaker 4: think they would continue to look in free agency at

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Speaker 4: maybe a starting cornerback or a pass rusher. So that

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Speaker 4: would make sense of if the Cardinals like to have

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Speaker 4: more of a rotation on the d line, finding a

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Speaker 4: free agent veteran who fits more of what their budget

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Speaker 4: might be and what they want to spend, and supplement

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Speaker 4: that with maybe resigning some of their players that they.

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Speaker 3: Felt good about.

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Speaker 1: And let's face it, I'm not expecting and you wouldn't expect,

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Speaker 1: as they say, lightning to strike twice with the injury

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Speaker 1: bug on the defensive line, because I think last season

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Speaker 1: was just one of those seasons where you have Callier Watkins,

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Speaker 1: Stills and ledbetter in the season on ir foto miss time.

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Speaker 1: We forget Kevin Strong was released late in the season,

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Speaker 1: so you saw different bodies coming in and coming out,

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Speaker 1: and one of the I wouldn't call it a bright spot,

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Speaker 1: but the stat and it's not really a stat but

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Speaker 1: a note that I can't get over is Week eighteen,

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Speaker 1: the team's three starting defensive linemen we're not even on

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Speaker 1: the roster to begin the season, and that's Royal Lopez,

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Speaker 1: Nikwan Jones and Phil Hoskins. That that's just bad luck.

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Speaker 1: So if you're not expecting that to happen again, which

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't, then to your point, Okay, these are the

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Speaker 1: guys we like. We need eleven bodies, twelve, we'll whittle

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Speaker 1: that down, but you're going to rotate five to six

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Speaker 1: every single week to keep them fresh, then maybe it's

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Speaker 1: money better spent as opposed to a big name at

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Speaker 1: that position spreading it out across the line of scrimmage

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Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, bad luck of not only two defensive linemen with

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Speaker 4: a season ning biceps injury, but linebacker Kuisier White, who

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Speaker 4: was also having a great year.

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Speaker 3: Just some bad luck.

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Speaker 4: I think we're on the same team here, Craig of

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Speaker 4: bringing in a player of value, maybe a starter, as

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Speaker 4: a free agent, without having to spend big bucks because

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Speaker 4: the Cardinals still have so many other areas they need

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Speaker 4: to focus on. You can even talk about offense, right

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Speaker 4: that's the offensive line, an area that I think the Cardinals,

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Speaker 4: it's likely are going to address in free agency.

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Speaker 3: So you have to.

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Speaker 4: Find the balance of a player that's worth the money

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Speaker 4: you're spending to bring in. You want somebody who's going

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Speaker 4: to be able to make a difference in whatever that

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Speaker 4: role is going to be and is still making sense

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Speaker 4: financially of the player's evaluation that position, and then looking

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Speaker 4: at the other moves that still need to be made, and.

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Speaker 1: There does need to be improvement on that defensive line

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Speaker 1: just because this was not a good run defense, and

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Speaker 1: I can look at stats, and the coaching staff can

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Speaker 1: look at stats. You know, dead last against the run,

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Speaker 1: they allow the most runs of ten or more yards.

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Speaker 1: That's the first line of defense. It's not the only

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Speaker 1: line of defense when you talk about stopping the run,

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Speaker 1: but you need three guys, four guys, or whomever it's

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Speaker 1: going to be. They need to do a better job

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Speaker 1: stopping the run. So it's not Kaiser White, it's not

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Speaker 1: Buddha Baker that has double digit tackles. That those tackles

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Speaker 1: that they're being made by that third line of defense

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Speaker 1: are because of pass plays, not because of run plays

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Speaker 1: and the running back especially within the NFC West, whether

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Speaker 1: it was Christian McCaffrey or Kyron Williams just running right

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Speaker 1: through that Cardinals defense. And that's the moralizing as a

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Speaker 1: defense and just the moralizing for an entire team if

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Speaker 1: an offense is able to run like that against you consistently,

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Speaker 1: and that's what happened this past year.

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Speaker 4: Kenneth Walker too with Seattle. I mean, the game is

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Speaker 4: one and lost in the trenches. That line of scrimmage

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Speaker 4: is so important. And the fact that we have seen

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Speaker 4: this front office under Austin for it already prioritize that

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Speaker 4: last year, more so on the offensive line, makes me

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Speaker 4: believe that the same could be true and we can

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Speaker 4: expect them to focus on the defensive line. I would

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Speaker 4: think that heading into now year two, this staff having

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Speaker 4: a better idea of what they can not only get

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Speaker 4: out of players, but also what they want to get done,

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Speaker 4: that you will see an improvement. And I think that

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Speaker 4: without giving a pass on the run defense because it

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Speaker 4: was bad. I mean watching it with your eyes or

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Speaker 4: looking at the stats, you can tell that it was bad.

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Speaker 4: Part of it goes back to the bad luck, and

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Speaker 4: that's not a knock on the players that we're having to.

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Speaker 3: Step up late in the season.

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Speaker 4: It's just there's a difference of somebody like an ljke

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Speaker 4: Caller who was a starter week one, and then you're

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Speaker 4: having to go down to players who, like you mentioned,

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Speaker 4: were not even on the roster when Colliers started Week one,

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Speaker 4: and you're having to rely on those players. And that's

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Speaker 4: why you pay players like Collier to come back, and

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Speaker 4: you pay the money you do because of the difference

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Speaker 4: the drop off in the talent there. So I would

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Speaker 4: expect that the Cardinals continue to make moves, whether that's

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Speaker 4: resigning their own like Collier who they liked, plus bringing

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Speaker 4: in some outside help throughout free agents. I would expect

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Speaker 4: to see an improvement on that run defense.

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Speaker 1: So Callier is back on a one year deal. We'll

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Speaker 1: see if any others are brought back between now and Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: when the rest of the league can participate in free agency.

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Speaker 1: As far as signing outside free agents. The other note

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Speaker 1: that should be mentioned, and Darren Urban had it on

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Speaker 1: the bottom of his story on LJ. Collier's return, but

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Speaker 1: the Cardinals did tender and offer to wide receiver Greg Dortsch,

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Speaker 1: who who it was an exclusive rights free agent. He

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Speaker 1: hasn't signed that tender, but he is because he was offered.

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Speaker 1: He's officially back in twenty twenty four, not a big surprise.

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Speaker 1: The question now with him is, Okay, is it just

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Speaker 1: special teams or do we see more of Dortsch offensively

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Speaker 1: like we did late in the season. That's I think

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Speaker 1: is going to depend on what happens in free agency

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Speaker 1: and oh yeah, the drafts at the end of April,

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Speaker 1: and whether a wide receiver is selected or maybe multiple

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Speaker 1: wide receivers are selected.

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Speaker 4: I mean, like the Dorch Craig It's so it's such

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Speaker 4: an interesting discussion when we talk about Greg Dortch, who

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Speaker 4: has proven his value on special teams absolutely, but every

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Speaker 4: time his number has been called upon, especially last season,

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Speaker 4: he performed. I mean, I'm thinking about the big play

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Speaker 4: in Chicago, that big you know, he caught the ball,

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Speaker 4: he ran far, but the Cardinals in scoring position. I

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Speaker 4: know that they lost the game, but he's just had

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Speaker 4: so many big plays. I just wonder if he's ever

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Speaker 4: going to really climb the totem pole enough is has

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Speaker 4: Doorch done enough to surpass a Rondo Moore in that

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Speaker 4: role at the Cardinals? Do draft a wide receiver early

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Speaker 4: on in the draft?

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Speaker 3: I don't.

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Speaker 4: I don't know that that would really affect how they

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Speaker 4: would use Doorch. I would I would think maybe more

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Speaker 4: so it would just be more of that competition with

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Speaker 4: Rondo more and how they're kind of using him there.

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Speaker 3: But it's interesting. I like this move.

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Speaker 4: I like I like Doorch. I like what he not

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Speaker 4: only just as a person in the locker room, but

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Speaker 4: the chip on his shoulder that he plays with, the

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Speaker 4: passion that he plays with, the fight and the effort

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Speaker 4: that he has every time he has that ball in

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Speaker 4: his hands.

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Speaker 3: I like bringing back Doorch for multiple reasons.

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Speaker 1: He's a fighter. Nothing's ever been handed to him. He's

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Speaker 1: always had to earn it. And let's see if we

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Speaker 1: can't earn some more playing time offensively this upcoming season.

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Speaker 1: I think, Danny, I think we should do this more

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Speaker 1: often now that free agency is here. The shorter cover,

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Speaker 1: two podcasts and maybe a combination of different voices. Whether

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Speaker 1: that's maybe we can get Darren on here, but.

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Speaker 3: Paul pretty busy. There's the big shot, big shot.

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Speaker 1: If we just walk around the office calling at the

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Speaker 1: big shot, can we get that to stick? Big shot? Darren?

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Speaker 3: I don't know if you like that.

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Speaker 4: Maybe no, I'd definitely be down to do more covered.

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Speaker 4: I mean, you almost went an entire week without doing

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Speaker 4: a cover two with me, crag my feelings.

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Speaker 3: We're starting to get a little hurt.

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Speaker 1: Hey, three straight shows, it was at five total days

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Speaker 1: in Indianapolis, a lot of fun, a lot of work,

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Speaker 1: but and a lot of information gathered as well. So

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Speaker 1: heay free agency not officially underway, but at least it

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Speaker 1: is for the Cardinals their first Domino. If you will

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Speaker 1: LJ call, you're brought back on a one year deal.

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Speaker 1: We'll see if any more of the now sixteen unrestricted

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Speaker 1: agents are brought back for twenty twenty four. And on

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Speaker 1: that note, we will put a lid on this edition

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Speaker 1: of Cardinals Cover two presented by Hyundai, proud partner of

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Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals. As always, special thanks to our executive

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Speaker 1: producer Jim Almandro our associate producer Cuddie Fincher for Danny surek,

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Speaker 1: I'm Pregrioloup. We'll talk to you next time here on

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Speaker 1: Cardinals Cover two